I left engineering school because I was more interested in the conceptual underpinnings than in the number-crunching. I very quickly realized that no one was interested in "thinkers". At least not where I went to school. When I further realized that at many schools (of which my major state research-oriented institution was one) the primary purpose of undergraduate engineering programs is to manufacture more grad students to support the research... I left.
IMNSHO, most of the academic & work worlds are FAR too oriented around "technical specialists" as opposed to "thinkers". (This is true in many fields, not just those traditionally thought of as "technical".) I agree with the above poster who said "it takes both"... but I believe the pendulum these days has swung too far in the "number-cruncher" direction.
Laying aside the issues of DRM, M$, no-burning, etc...
Just evaluating it as a downloadable movie service, VONGO is not too terrible. My kids love it.
PROS:
1) VARIETY - The library has some "churn" to it, so you aren't stuck with the *same* 2000 titles forever. 2) KID-FRIENDLY - a pretty good selection of kids movies, most of which are tolerably decent, and you can password-lock by rating. 3) SPEED - on a cable modem, movies are ready to "Watch Now" within 3 or 4 minutes, and are usually fully downloaded in about 20 minutes. 4) PRICE - cheaper than most other options, considering you get unlimited viewing of most titles (I'm not paying $100 a month for cable) 5) QUALITY - will it please videophiles, NO! - is it good enough for most people, yes. I rate it about as good as a new VHS tape. 6) CONVENIENCE - when the kids want a new movie, they can always find something instantly, and I don't have to make a trip to the library. 7) FEATURES - You get instant previews of EVERY film, even old obscure titles like "Where Angels Go, Trouble Follows" (which I made my kids watch because I remember watching it thirty years ago...), and other tools like genre search, etc. 8) BONUS - You do get a free "live feed" of the STARZ movie channel, which may not be that great but at least it's a little something extra they throw in. 9) ACCESS - You can watch the same subscription on up to 3 PCs and also on some portable devices.
CONS: 1) VARIETY - it ain't NetFlix. 2) QUALITY - it ain't 1080p.
If they had closer to 5,000 titles, and the quality was simply a consistent DVD-quality, I would be willing to pay as much as $20/monthly for the convenience alone. As it is, it really isn't too bad for $9.95... my kids love it, and the wife and I have watched our share of movies as well. (Just watched 'Click' the other night)
Anytime something new comes along, the first attempts will almost always be hampered by flaws. I have to chuckle at how impatient and intolerant people around here can be, considering such "fits and starts" are completely normal.
The whole IPTV/VOD/ETC situation is complicated for a variety of reasons, not least of which being that it carries both technical challenges and unanswered business questions. Give 'em a chance to figure some of this stuff out!
Sure, the landscape is littered with failed attempts... but look at some of the progress in the past year or two:
- sale (to own) of full-length network programs via iTunes
- niche networks dipping their toes in the water such as Adult Swim offering free Friday Night Fix and now a weekly-rotating selection of full-length programs commercial-free
- services like AKIMBO being widely available
- impressively sophisticated online channels like ManiaTV (using the term to refer to the production achievement, and not necessarily the content!)
- AOL's in2TV service, where I can watch shows like F-Troop and Wonder Woman for free! (What's not to love?)
There are many other examples.
I just decided to risk $10 and give VONGO a try. http://www.vongo.com/ Yes, I am aware of the limitations of the current offering... the library only offers 1,000 titles, and it is a "rotating" library... yes, if you already pay for cable (I don't) the inclusion of a free live feed from the STARZ! movie channel is of limited value. However, just in terms of how the system "works", I am pretty impressed. Based on actual experience with the product, here are a few observations:
1) The offering will inevitably evolve as demand & customer preferences are evaluated. Again, give it time.
2) The quality of the full-screen viewing experience is on-par with brand-new VHS (sure, not stellar, but adequate for plenty of things). This, too, will improve over time. Artifacting and glitches were minimal when watching on a standard TV at full-screen using the s-video out from my ATI card.
3) The interface for selecting and downloading is a little heavy on the eye-candy, but functions well and smoothly (no glitches or crashes so far). As near as I can tell, all titles have previews and other detailed information available before download.
4) Downloads are adequately fast (on a standard cable-modem connection). They seem to run at about an average of 500kbps... and you can begin watching almost immediately. Typically the download of the entire film seems to be finished ten to twenty minutes into viewing.
5) There are some titles available as 24-hour Pay-Per-Views. They seem to run $3 or $4... same as you get with cable or BlockBuster rental. Would I rather they had *everything* on the "unlimited" menu? Sure, but there seems to be plenty of good stuff mixed around. Being "in the industry" myself, I suspect the reasons for what is Pay-Per-View are entirely dictated by what sort of licensing agreements they can negotiate with the studios. Again, this will evolve over time.
6) Yes, even the "unlimited" menu rotates, so all titles have a date attached when they will "rotate off" the menu and no longer be available. For myself, about 75% of the films I watch I never want to see more than once, so this is perfectly acceptable. For films I want to watch over and over, I will inevitably purchase the DVD anyway, so again, this is not an issue for me.
All-in-all, so far I feel like I am getting a lot for my $10. Plus, for viewing a decent selection of recent releases, I don't have to go to BlockBuster, the library, or wait on Netflix. This is a nice convenience (hell, it's a luxury, why don't we admit it) when you have kids who want to watch something "now" (Example: "Are We There Yet?")... or when you just want to catch-up on a title or two you haven't seen yet (Examp
Coming at ya like a (slow) freight train ...
on
A Look at IPTV
·
· Score: 5, Interesting
Without taking the time to elaborate on all of the parameters (this is a complex situation and it's too early in the AM here...) all folks really need to know is that "broadband TV" is coming, and it is a *VERY* good thing.
The confluence of technology development, trends in the entertainment industry (all kinds of trends: economic, demographic, etc.), government & regulatory evolution, and other forces are (admittedly) slowly but surely creating a vacuum that can only be filled by a "fourth provider" of television service. (In addition to OTA (over-the-air), DBS (direct-broadcast satellite), and cable.)
The cable television industry shares a good portion of the blame (or credit) for this situation, which will ultimately dig the grave for much of their own profits. Their stranglehold on most "in-home" entertainment - including the WWW - coupled with their buccaneer behavior trying to eat the telco's lunch (with IP phone service) have brought competitors out of the woodwork. And some of these competitors (like SBC/AT&T) come to play. Add to the mix the upward-spiraling cost of cable TV, and you have what business-people like to call "low-hanging fruit."
Before y'all get started... OF COURSE there are bugs in the current crop of offerings... none of it is going to seriously damage the cablecos bottom-line... YET. But you don't have to be Warren Buffett to see indicators are appearing like the hand writing on the wall. The stage of the game where small innovators test the market (Akimbo, etc.) has already past. The big boys with lots of cash are now wading into the pool. The train has left the station. Need a few more metaphors?
And of course, this is all "A Good Thing" (TM) because it will mean a good ol' fashioned PRICE WAR. How long since we've seen *that* happen in TV? Ever? When AT&T (or some other player with deep pockets) steps up to offer a viable TV service for $19.95 a month (a permanent, not a "promotional" price)... or bundled services (voice/data/TV) for $49.95 a month... you will hear the cableco executives screaming halfway around the globe. Yippee!
One more prediction: Watch for a la carte TV to become a reality in the next 2-3 years. The reason being that as all of this competition heats up, networks (think Turner or Discovery) will start to wake-up to the fact that there is a niche of viewers out there who would like to pay them directly for delivery of a reasonable-quality stream over the broadband connection they already have... and that they can deliver that product without giving the cable company (or the telco) a sniff of the fee. The status quo of the recent (and distant) past created a detente where no one was willing to cross this line. We are about to enter a "wild and wooly" phase wherein all bets are off.
Okay... enough rambling... I'm off to refill my coffee cup.
Hard to say without a thorough examination, but it does appear that these guys: http://www.urbanaero.com/Urban_Main.htm/ may have a bit more going on than Mr. Moller.
First of all, your "it's ballistics" comment is baiting, OT, and just plain silly.
Secondly, as at least one person adroitly pointed out, all you have to do is first dissipate your horizontal velocity, and then point your "retro" thrust straight down (down being a relative term, of course) until your alititude is low enough that terminal velocity takes care of your "32 ft/sec^2". (Then you can use parachutes or whatever else you please.)
Or heck, use the Roton method and chopper it in! Voila! Zero heating. (Or near enough zero for the point I am making.) Sure it would require a crapload of fuel to do this... or some other method of generating the required retro-thrust... but would it eliminate the heating problem? Yes.
AGAIN I WILL RE-ITERATE:
I never said (or implied) it was practical (or even possible) given current technology... only that behaving as if the heating problem was axiomatically unavoidable is not, in fact, true.
Okay... every freaking time this subject comes up (which you all know is fairly often) at least part of the thread gets hijacked into a detour on re-entry heating and "how in the heck is Rutan going to solve that problem", etc.
IANARS, but I do know a thing or two about aerospace principles and technology due to the education I *do* have. What I always find amusing about this particular area of the discussion (re-entry heating) is that everyone posting seems to take for granted that re-entry heating is an axiomatic phenomenon that MUST be faced head-on. (Pun not intended but noticed.)
THIS IS NOT TRUE!
The only reason re-entry heating is an issue for us (NASA, et al) is more a matter of ECONOMICS than technology.
The simple fact is that you can re-enter the atmosphere with little or no heating... all you have to do is SLOW DOWN!
The reason we don't slow down is we can't afford to carry enough fuel to get into orbit and still have enough to slow the craft down for a cool re-entry. (Think about it... "every action", etc.... it takes as much energy to slow down as it took to speed up in the first place... so it would take a LOT of fuel.) An ablative coating (on the Apollo Command Module) or the tile system (on the Shuttles) is a heckuva lot cheaper and easier than managing to get enough fuel on-orbit to slow the dang thing back down to near-zero.
In a nutshell - if I can slow my craft down enough (think "retro-rockets" here) then I can practically "float back down" into the atmosphere with minimal heating.
There *are* possible solutions, such as *sending* fuel to orbit in a separate un-manned craft, and then re-fueling the manned craft on-station. Or *manufacturing* fuel outside Earth's gravity well so craft can re-fuel. Or having some other means of power to use for "retro-thrust" in orbit.
Now, I am going to cap the preceding comments with a BIG disclaimer:
*Of course* I realize that this opens a different set of problems and perhaps presumes technology developments in other areas... but that doesn't make it any less true!
I am just tired of people assuming that no matter what you do you have to have a craft capable of withstanding all of that horrible heat... it just isn't so. As is the case with many science problems, there is more than one way to skin the cat.
Whatever happened to all the hype a few years back (a WIRED cover-story comes to mind) about how we would be seeing chips formed from synthetic diamond rather than using silicon... in order to improve performance and handle heat more efficiently?
Haven't heard much of anything on the 'diamond age' since... did the DeBeers just off all those guys?
Considering the reputedly elite pool of/. posters, it is embarrassing how many comments to a story like this are devoid of even a shred of logic or critical thinking. And I'm not even talking about the folks who have the impression the HONDA corporation is building rockets... OMFG.
I, too have a new home, and have reviewed the available crop of "networked music devices" - both wired and wireless. I have checked them ALL out. I do agree that in the end, wired is better (at least until the next-gen wireless hits).
The chief drawback is that you have to run their proprietary server software, but it is pretty much unobtrusive and non-system-hogging from what I've experienced so far. The build-quality and UI are really great. Works wired or wireless. Multiple units can be placed throughout the house all served from the same PC running the software.
Aesthetically, it is by far the best of the lot. (Our living room is sort of a "tech-free zone," but we still wanted music. The OmniFi and a small set of powered speakers fits the bill perfectly.)
Bottom-line is that none of the devices on the market are perfect. Pro's and Con's everywhere... but I would definitely give the OmniFi some consideration. (And they also make a nice car stereo version that can synch with the same server!)
I've been saying for a year or two now that well before the end of the decade (let's just say by 2007, if you want to get specific) you will start to see some major cable networks (by which I mean folks like Discovery/TLC, FoodTV, etc.) "break from the pack" and start offering programming DIRECT to subscribers via the Internet.
The pieces are all there (just like I can DL a flick from MovieLink) to get programming a la carte from these folks, it's just a matter of one company having the will to pee on the cableco's... but believe me, the tipping point will soon be reached where someone runs the numbers and realizes they can make more $$$ without cable... and when one or two do it, watch out for the stampede.
By the way, on the whole "quality/bandwidth" issue... who says it has to be great? For most programming, near-VHS quality will suit just fine... I don't really need to see the news or re-runs of Family Guy in 1080i...
Why do you think the cableco's now offer a suite of services (broadband, VoIP, etc)? That diversification is the only thing that will keep them alive when TV "broadcasting" (or "cablecasting") as we know it ceases to be.
Imagine! Getting all the Adult Swim you want for $4.95/month! All WITHOUT having to shell out $50 to Time-Warner or Comcast for the privilege of subsidizing VH1 and QVC!!
I was actually interested when I saw the PIXAR cover... it's been a while since they had a decent feature article... WHAT A DISAPPOINTMENT... this "feature" is like, barely FOUR FREAKING PAGES! It's hardly more than a press release.
I remember when WIRED actually *did* have IN-DEPTH feature articles... many of which went for ten - twelve - even TWENTY pages.
(Anyone remember Neal Stephenson's novella on undersea cable from late '96 ?? )
Actually for me, WIRED jumped-the-shark years ago when they ran an issue with like thirty pages on BAGS... freakin' luggage, I mean!
I'd dump my subscription, but what else is there?
Long ago I was an OMNI fan... then it disappeared... and after a five-or-six year run WIRED started to suck... now it's been at least four years and there is NOTHING decent to replace it...
Having been a willing victim of the third (? I lost count of the real number) attempt at an "eBook Revolution"... I can honestly say that *this time* (meaning the period between 1998-2000) it looked like they really had a chance.
The Rocket eBook *WAS* (by any standard) a great product, which made extremely good use of the technology available at the time. Of course there were plenty of naysayers... primarily those who wanted the product to "be" something other than what it was intended to be. A lot of that came down to the old "convergence vs. divergence" debate, and we certainly aren't going to settle that here.
I was there (in '99) trying to start a company that would capitalize on this (at the time) nascent technology. I was there "rubbing elbows" with the guys (and gals) from Nuvomedia, from SoftBook (don't get me started!), from the N.I.S.T., and many, many others. When we all went to the CES in Vegas the Winter of 2000, it really seemed like things were starting to click.
You have to keep in mind that NuvoMedia (especially) had really got something started with the online "RocketLibrary" site. There was a rapidly-growing "community" there, much like the community that had provided the PalmPilot (and other technologies) with the buzz needed to "go mainstream." The bubble had not yet burst, and things were on-track for finding other commercial applications for this technology.
I wish the blame could all be laid somewhere on Wall Street, but unfortunately the lion's share belongs to those incompetent boobs at Gemstar. They shot themselves in the foot, but they shot the eBook community in the head.
The folks at Gemstar wisely chose to single-handedly DISMANTLE the entire eBook community brick-by-brick, within the first six months after their purchase of Nuvomedia and SoftBook. Combine that with the frigid technology climate during the fall of 2000 and the Spring of 2001, and the deal was done.
The Rocket eBook (especially if it could have continued to benefit not only from the "open community" but also from subsequent technology advances) could have served a real niche. And those who "don't understand why you need one when you have a PDA" just don't get it. OF COURSE they weren't going to displace PDAs... eBooks were (and are) a disruptive technology that simply needed a bit more time to settle-in...
It was never a question of "if" but "when"... and that is still the case.
The best humorous footnote?
In their corporate email to eBook users this week, Gemstar phrased it as "we are SCALING BACK our eBook operations".... LOLOLOLOLOL
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I left engineering school because I was more interested in the conceptual underpinnings than in the number-crunching. I very quickly realized that no one was interested in "thinkers". At least not where I went to school. When I further realized that at many schools (of which my major state research-oriented institution was one) the primary purpose of undergraduate engineering programs is to manufacture more grad students to support the research ... I left.
... but I believe the pendulum these days has swung too far in the "number-cruncher" direction.
IMNSHO, most of the academic & work worlds are FAR too oriented around "technical specialists" as opposed to "thinkers". (This is true in many fields, not just those traditionally thought of as "technical".) I agree with the above poster who said "it takes both"
Laying aside the issues of DRM, M$, no-burning, etc ...
...), and other tools like genre search, etc.
... my kids love it, and the wife and I have watched our share of movies as well. (Just watched 'Click' the other night)
Just evaluating it as a downloadable movie service, VONGO is not too terrible. My kids love it.
PROS:
1) VARIETY - The library has some "churn" to it, so you aren't stuck with the *same* 2000 titles forever.
2) KID-FRIENDLY - a pretty good selection of kids movies, most of which are tolerably decent, and you can password-lock by rating.
3) SPEED - on a cable modem, movies are ready to "Watch Now" within 3 or 4 minutes, and are usually fully downloaded in about 20 minutes.
4) PRICE - cheaper than most other options, considering you get unlimited viewing of most titles (I'm not paying $100 a month for cable)
5) QUALITY - will it please videophiles, NO! - is it good enough for most people, yes. I rate it about as good as a new VHS tape.
6) CONVENIENCE - when the kids want a new movie, they can always find something instantly, and I don't have to make a trip to the library.
7) FEATURES - You get instant previews of EVERY film, even old obscure titles like "Where Angels Go, Trouble Follows" (which I made my kids watch because I remember watching it thirty years ago
8) BONUS - You do get a free "live feed" of the STARZ movie channel, which may not be that great but at least it's a little something extra they throw in.
9) ACCESS - You can watch the same subscription on up to 3 PCs and also on some portable devices.
CONS:
1) VARIETY - it ain't NetFlix.
2) QUALITY - it ain't 1080p.
If they had closer to 5,000 titles, and the quality was simply a consistent DVD-quality, I would be willing to pay as much as $20/monthly for the convenience alone. As it is, it really isn't too bad for $9.95
It ain't perfect, but it really isn't too bad.
Anytime something new comes along, the first attempts will almost always be hampered by flaws. I have to chuckle at how impatient and intolerant people around here can be, considering such "fits and starts" are completely normal.
... but look at some of the progress in the past year or two:
... the library only offers 1,000 titles, and it is a "rotating" library ... yes, if you already pay for cable (I don't) the inclusion of a free live feed from the STARZ! movie channel is of limited value. However, just in terms of how the system "works", I am pretty impressed. Based on actual experience with the product, here are a few observations:
... and you can begin watching almost immediately. Typically the download of the entire film seems to be finished ten to twenty minutes into viewing.
... same as you get with cable or BlockBuster rental. Would I rather they had *everything* on the "unlimited" menu? Sure, but there seems to be plenty of good stuff mixed around. Being "in the industry" myself, I suspect the reasons for what is Pay-Per-View are entirely dictated by what sort of licensing agreements they can negotiate with the studios. Again, this will evolve over time.
... or when you just want to catch-up on a title or two you haven't seen yet (Examp
The whole IPTV/VOD/ETC situation is complicated for a variety of reasons, not least of which being that it carries both technical challenges and unanswered business questions. Give 'em a chance to figure some of this stuff out!
Sure, the landscape is littered with failed attempts
- sale (to own) of full-length network programs via iTunes
- niche networks dipping their toes in the water such as Adult Swim offering free Friday Night Fix and now a weekly-rotating selection of full-length programs commercial-free
- services like AKIMBO being widely available
- impressively sophisticated online channels like ManiaTV (using the term to refer to the production achievement, and not necessarily the content!)
- AOL's in2TV service, where I can watch shows like F-Troop and Wonder Woman for free! (What's not to love?)
There are many other examples.
I just decided to risk $10 and give VONGO a try. http://www.vongo.com/ Yes, I am aware of the limitations of the current offering
1) The offering will inevitably evolve as demand & customer preferences are evaluated. Again, give it time.
2) The quality of the full-screen viewing experience is on-par with brand-new VHS (sure, not stellar, but adequate for plenty of things). This, too, will improve over time. Artifacting and glitches were minimal when watching on a standard TV at full-screen using the s-video out from my ATI card.
3) The interface for selecting and downloading is a little heavy on the eye-candy, but functions well and smoothly (no glitches or crashes so far). As near as I can tell, all titles have previews and other detailed information available before download.
4) Downloads are adequately fast (on a standard cable-modem connection). They seem to run at about an average of 500kbps
5) There are some titles available as 24-hour Pay-Per-Views. They seem to run $3 or $4
6) Yes, even the "unlimited" menu rotates, so all titles have a date attached when they will "rotate off" the menu and no longer be available. For myself, about 75% of the films I watch I never want to see more than once, so this is perfectly acceptable. For films I want to watch over and over, I will inevitably purchase the DVD anyway, so again, this is not an issue for me.
All-in-all, so far I feel like I am getting a lot for my $10. Plus, for viewing a decent selection of recent releases, I don't have to go to BlockBuster, the library, or wait on Netflix. This is a nice convenience (hell, it's a luxury, why don't we admit it) when you have kids who want to watch something "now" (Example: "Are We There Yet?")
Without taking the time to elaborate on all of the parameters (this is a complex situation and it's too early in the AM here ...) all folks really need to know is that "broadband TV" is coming, and it is a *VERY* good thing.
... OF COURSE there are bugs in the current crop of offerings ... none of it is going to seriously damage the cablecos bottom-line ... YET. But you don't have to be Warren Buffett to see indicators are appearing like the hand writing on the wall. The stage of the game where small innovators test the market (Akimbo, etc.) has already past. The big boys with lots of cash are now wading into the pool. The train has left the station. Need a few more metaphors?
... or bundled services (voice/data/TV) for $49.95 a month ... you will hear the cableco executives screaming halfway around the globe. Yippee!
... and that they can deliver that product without giving the cable company (or the telco) a sniff of the fee. The status quo of the recent (and distant) past created a detente where no one was willing to cross this line. We are about to enter a "wild and wooly" phase wherein all bets are off.
... enough rambling ... I'm off to refill my coffee cup.
The confluence of technology development, trends in the entertainment industry (all kinds of trends: economic, demographic, etc.), government & regulatory evolution, and other forces are (admittedly) slowly but surely creating a vacuum that can only be filled by a "fourth provider" of television service. (In addition to OTA (over-the-air), DBS (direct-broadcast satellite), and cable.)
The cable television industry shares a good portion of the blame (or credit) for this situation, which will ultimately dig the grave for much of their own profits. Their stranglehold on most "in-home" entertainment - including the WWW - coupled with their buccaneer behavior trying to eat the telco's lunch (with IP phone service) have brought competitors out of the woodwork. And some of these competitors (like SBC/AT&T) come to play. Add to the mix the upward-spiraling cost of cable TV, and you have what business-people like to call "low-hanging fruit."
Before y'all get started
And of course, this is all "A Good Thing" (TM) because it will mean a good ol' fashioned PRICE WAR. How long since we've seen *that* happen in TV? Ever? When AT&T (or some other player with deep pockets) steps up to offer a viable TV service for $19.95 a month (a permanent, not a "promotional" price)
One more prediction: Watch for a la carte TV to become a reality in the next 2-3 years. The reason being that as all of this competition heats up, networks (think Turner or Discovery) will start to wake-up to the fact that there is a niche of viewers out there who would like to pay them directly for delivery of a reasonable-quality stream over the broadband connection they already have
Okay
From TFA:
... hmmm ... coffee ... coffee-makers ... *Mister* Coffee ...
"The Dense Plasma Focus device is roughly the size of a coffee can."
Size of a *coffee* can
MR. FUSION!
Yes! FINALLY!
Hard to say without a thorough examination, but it does appear that these guys: http://www.urbanaero.com/Urban_Main.htm/ may have a bit more going on than Mr. Moller.
First of all, your "it's ballistics" comment is baiting, OT, and just plain silly.
... or some other method of generating the required retro-thrust ... but would it eliminate the heating problem? Yes.
... only that behaving as if the heating problem was axiomatically unavoidable is not, in fact, true.
Secondly, as at least one person adroitly pointed out, all you have to do is first dissipate your horizontal velocity, and then point your "retro" thrust straight down (down being a relative term, of course) until your alititude is low enough that terminal velocity takes care of your "32 ft/sec^2". (Then you can use parachutes or whatever else you please.)
Or heck, use the Roton method and chopper it in! Voila! Zero heating. (Or near enough zero for the point I am making.) Sure it would require a crapload of fuel to do this
AGAIN I WILL RE-ITERATE:
I never said (or implied) it was practical (or even possible) given current technology
Okay ... every freaking time this subject comes up (which you all know is fairly often) at least part of the thread gets hijacked into a detour on re-entry heating and "how in the heck is Rutan going to solve that problem", etc.
... all you have to do is SLOW DOWN!
... "every action", etc. ... it takes as much energy to slow down as it took to speed up in the first place ... so it would take a LOT of fuel.) An ablative coating (on the Apollo Command Module) or the tile system (on the Shuttles) is a heckuva lot cheaper and easier than managing to get enough fuel on-orbit to slow the dang thing back down to near-zero.
... but that doesn't make it any less true!
... it just isn't so. As is the case with many science problems, there is more than one way to skin the cat.
IANARS, but I do know a thing or two about aerospace principles and technology due to the education I *do* have. What I always find amusing about this particular area of the discussion (re-entry heating) is that everyone posting seems to take for granted that re-entry heating is an axiomatic phenomenon that MUST be faced head-on. (Pun not intended but noticed.)
THIS IS NOT TRUE!
The only reason re-entry heating is an issue for us (NASA, et al) is more a matter of ECONOMICS than technology.
The simple fact is that you can re-enter the atmosphere with little or no heating
The reason we don't slow down is we can't afford to carry enough fuel to get into orbit and still have enough to slow the craft down for a cool re-entry. (Think about it
In a nutshell - if I can slow my craft down enough (think "retro-rockets" here) then I can practically "float back down" into the atmosphere with minimal heating.
There *are* possible solutions, such as *sending* fuel to orbit in a separate un-manned craft, and then re-fueling the manned craft on-station. Or *manufacturing* fuel outside Earth's gravity well so craft can re-fuel. Or having some other means of power to use for "retro-thrust" in orbit.
Now, I am going to cap the preceding comments with a BIG disclaimer:
*Of course* I realize that this opens a different set of problems and perhaps presumes technology developments in other areas
I am just tired of people assuming that no matter what you do you have to have a craft capable of withstanding all of that horrible heat
Me out!
Speaking of better/faster/cooler chips ...
... in order to improve performance and handle heat more efficiently?
... did the DeBeers just off all those guys?
Whatever happened to all the hype a few years back (a WIRED cover-story comes to mind) about how we would be seeing chips formed from synthetic diamond rather than using silicon
Haven't heard much of anything on the 'diamond age' since
Considering the reputedly elite pool of /. posters, it is embarrassing how many comments to a story like this are devoid of even a shred of logic or critical thinking. And I'm not even talking about the folks who have the impression the HONDA corporation is building rockets ... OMFG.
Just my two-cents' worth:
... but I would definitely give the OmniFi some consideration. (And they also make a nice car stereo version that can synch with the same server!)
I, too have a new home, and have reviewed the available crop of "networked music devices" - both wired and wireless. I have checked them ALL out. I do agree that in the end, wired is better (at least until the next-gen wireless hits).
In DEC, I picked up a refurbed OmniFi DMS1 on eBay for $99. http://www.omnifimedia.com/
I LOVE IT!!
The chief drawback is that you have to run their proprietary server software, but it is pretty much unobtrusive and non-system-hogging from what I've experienced so far. The build-quality and UI are really great. Works wired or wireless. Multiple units can be placed throughout the house all served from the same PC running the software.
Aesthetically, it is by far the best of the lot. (Our living room is sort of a "tech-free zone," but we still wanted music. The OmniFi and a small set of powered speakers fits the bill perfectly.)
Bottom-line is that none of the devices on the market are perfect. Pro's and Con's everywhere
YMMV
I've been saying for a year or two now that well before the end of the decade (let's just say by 2007, if you want to get specific) you will start to see some major cable networks (by which I mean folks like Discovery/TLC, FoodTV, etc.) "break from the pack" and start offering programming DIRECT to subscribers via the Internet.
... but believe me, the tipping point will soon be reached where someone runs the numbers and realizes they can make more $$$ without cable ... and when one or two do it, watch out for the stampede.
... who says it has to be great? For most programming, near-VHS quality will suit just fine ... I don't really need to see the news or re-runs of Family Guy in 1080i ...
The pieces are all there (just like I can DL a flick from MovieLink) to get programming a la carte from these folks, it's just a matter of one company having the will to pee on the cableco's
By the way, on the whole "quality/bandwidth" issue
Why do you think the cableco's now offer a suite of services (broadband, VoIP, etc)? That diversification is the only thing that will keep them alive when TV "broadcasting" (or "cablecasting") as we know it ceases to be.
Imagine! Getting all the Adult Swim you want for $4.95/month! All WITHOUT having to shell out $50 to Time-Warner or Comcast for the privilege of subsidizing VH1 and QVC!!
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WIRED = Worthless In Really Every Dimension
... it's been a while since they had a decent feature article ... WHAT A DISAPPOINTMENT ... this "feature" is like, barely FOUR FREAKING PAGES! It's hardly more than a press release.
... many of which went for ten - twelve - even TWENTY pages.
... freakin' luggage, I mean!
... then it disappeared ... and after a five-or-six year run WIRED started to suck ... now it's been at least four years and there is NOTHING decent to replace it ...
"In depth" article ????
WTF ???
I was actually interested when I saw the PIXAR cover
I remember when WIRED actually *did* have IN-DEPTH feature articles
(Anyone remember Neal Stephenson's novella on undersea cable from late '96 ?? )
Mother earth - motherboard
Actually for me, WIRED jumped-the-shark years ago when they ran an issue with like thirty pages on BAGS
I'd dump my subscription, but what else is there?
Long ago I was an OMNI fan
SUGGESTIONS WELCOMED!
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Having been a willing victim of the third (? I lost count of the real number) attempt at an "eBook Revolution" ... I can honestly say that *this time* (meaning the period between 1998-2000) it looked like they really had a chance.
... primarily those who wanted the product to "be" something other than what it was intended to be. A lot of that came down to the old "convergence vs. divergence" debate, and we certainly aren't going to settle that here.
... eBooks were (and are) a disruptive technology that simply needed a bit more time to settle-in ...
... and that is still the case.
.... LOLOLOLOLOL
... maybe I should.
The Rocket eBook *WAS* (by any standard) a great product, which made extremely good use of the technology available at the time. Of course there were plenty of naysayers
I was there (in '99) trying to start a company that would capitalize on this (at the time) nascent technology. I was there "rubbing elbows" with the guys (and gals) from Nuvomedia, from SoftBook (don't get me started!), from the N.I.S.T., and many, many others. When we all went to the CES in Vegas the Winter of 2000, it really seemed like things were starting to click.
You have to keep in mind that NuvoMedia (especially) had really got something started with the online "RocketLibrary" site. There was a rapidly-growing "community" there, much like the community that had provided the PalmPilot (and other technologies) with the buzz needed to "go mainstream." The bubble had not yet burst, and things were on-track for finding other commercial applications for this technology.
I wish the blame could all be laid somewhere on Wall Street, but unfortunately the lion's share belongs to those incompetent boobs at Gemstar. They shot themselves in the foot, but they shot the eBook community in the head.
The folks at Gemstar wisely chose to single-handedly DISMANTLE the entire eBook community brick-by-brick, within the first six months after their purchase of Nuvomedia and SoftBook. Combine that with the frigid technology climate during the fall of 2000 and the Spring of 2001, and the deal was done.
The Rocket eBook (especially if it could have continued to benefit not only from the "open community" but also from subsequent technology advances) could have served a real niche. And those who "don't understand why you need one when you have a PDA" just don't get it. OF COURSE they weren't going to displace PDAs
It was never a question of "if" but "when"
The best humorous footnote?
In their corporate email to eBook users this week, Gemstar phrased it as "we are SCALING BACK our eBook operations"
Jeez, I could write a book
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